Twin celebrations of the Army’s 250th anniversary and the president’s birthday will include as many as 25 tanks rolling through Washington.
Twin celebrations of Donald Trump’s birthday and the Army’s 250th anniversary will include as many as 25 tanks rolling through Washington in a celebration that will cost $25 million to $45 million, U.S. officials told Reuters on Wednesday.
U.S. military service branches take pride in their history and anniversary celebrations, called birthdays, across the United States and on bases around the world.
The U.S. Army had long been planning to move troops and equipment to the National Mall in Washington on June 14 as part of its anniversary celebration. Plans now include a parade since that coincides with Trump’s 79th birthday.
Two U.S. officials told Reuters, on condition of anonymity, the eventual cost could be as high as $45 million. One of them said the cost included several million dollars more than it would have without a parade.
Historically speaking, USSR / Russia, China, and NK have loved to talk up the capabilities of their kit, and these parades were a big part of that. They have frequently failed to deliver on all of their promised capabilities.
In the United States we have done the opposite. We don’t talk about our latest gen aircraft programs; we hide them out in the desert. When we do talk we remain cagey about what we have for years and decades, until long after we’ve started selling it to allies.
I understand that this parade will not show off our real capabilities (not at 25 tanks anyway), but I am saddened that the man feels like he needs to stoop to the level of the adversaries we’ve held for so long.
He’s mad that Putin and el-Sisi both got cool military parades. I remember him wanting to do this in his first term.